BY HAILE DEMEKE
The Ethiopian government’s absolute prime concern is all about ensuring food self-sufficiency at both national and household level since close to 85 percent of Ethiopia’s population are smallholder farmers. The government is working commitment towards achieving food self-sufficiency by all means and using lowland irrigation.
The agriculture is still characterized, for the most part, by low output subsistence agriculture due to various reasons. The level of technology is generally basic, and productivity per hectare perhaps is the lowest compared to the rest of the world. Even in high agricultural potential areas of the country, in which crop based systems predominate and population densities are the highest, productivity is constrained by lack of knowledge, finance, poor postharvest handling and poorly developed market system.
The government in Ethiopia has implemented various agricultural policies so as to raise production and productivity in agriculture. All these policy interventions have been implemented to increase agricultural productivity and production which, in turn, reduce poverty and food insecurity.
Agriculture plays a major role in Ethiopian society and it needs to be supported by technology to bring the desired output. It provides a livelihood for around 80 per cent of the population and accounts for 40 percent of total economic output. In some areas of the country, considerable increases in production are possible, which could in turn be used to supply other parts of the country or even allow Ethiopia to become a net food exporter.
The government is using agricultural mechanization solutions as a way of achieving sustainable increases in smallholder productivity, therefore contributing to both higher incomes and the development of rural region as well.
The government of Ethiopia is working in commitment by improving the access of technologies for small holder farmers aiming at increasing productivity and also improving the livelihood of the farmers as well. In doing so the agricultural authorities from the federal, state and zonal level are developing strategies to promote the use of technologies. In order to realize the goal the involvement of governmental, private and non-governmental organizations is very crucial. This makes it easier for the stakeholders to exchange experience and promotes mutual understanding of their different perspectives and the challenges they face.
Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA) is among an international Non-governmental organization working in partner with Ethiopia supporting the sector through technologies. SAA an international NGO dedicated to supporting sustainable agricultural development across Africa is among the organizations working focused on improving nutrition, health, and livelihoods in low-and middleincome countries across the continent.
The organization work in close collaboration with national agricultural extension services in many African countries and the organization is also operating in Ethiopia aiming at supporting smallholder farmers along agricultural value chain. SAA aims to increase farmers’ income and food and nutrition security through promoting market-oriented, sustainable, resilient, and regenerative and nutrition-sensitive agricultural innovations and building the capacity of Extension Agents and farmers across Ethiopia.
Speaking to The Ethiopian Herald, SAA Post Harvest Agro-processing team Coordinator Aberash Tsehay said that the organization started operation many years ago and this year the organization has set three new strategic plans which will be implemented from 2021-2025 to overcome the rapidly changing challenges on the field of agriculture and to achieve sustainable agricultural production and development in Ethiopia. The three pillars of the new strategic plans are regenerated agriculture, nutrition sensitive agriculture and market oriented agriculture, she said.
Those plans are aimed at improving production and productivity, making the farmers food self-sufficient and also produce quality products for the market as well. The demonstration of modern technologies to smallholders is crucial for farmers so as to improve their production and become self-sufficient. Use of modern technologies while harvesting and threshing will reduce loss and other related problems. The demonstrations involve a wide range of farming equipment that can be used for various types beyond threshing, ploughing and harvesting.
Umar Taha Senior Post Harvest Program Officer at SAA said that the recent technologies implemented by the SAA are very important for the sector in reducing the loss during the harvest and threshing time. Crop production in Ethiopia is small-scale and non-mechanized demand heavy human and animal power.
Traditional method of using animal power for threshing results not only in significant quantity and quality losses but also is time consuming and laborious. Those all challenges emanate from unable to use modern technologies due to various reasons and the support of private sector in supporting the government to improve the sector in general and production and productivity is essential. By using the modern threshing and harvesting machine the farmers can easily avoid crop loss and also save human power and other extra cost.
Farmers have also started using the threshing machine for cereal crops mainly wheat. The machine has capacity of harvesting two hectares of crop within a day. At the same time the machine will thresh the harvested crop and farmers also said that they are saving a considerable time and labor using the machine. Threshing of the crop takes time and power compared to the traditional method.
Rashad Haji, a farmer who used the threshing machine said: “The thresher is really a labor-saving technology compared to the traditional animal-based threshing method. It is completely better than the traditional animal threshing method and while I use the traditional threshing machine the grains are cleaner, no breakage, no dusts and unwanted matters making it perfect to be used for seed and also for consumption. We are thankful to the Sasakawa Project in supporting us by modern technology.”
Grain Production improvement coordinator Melese Liyih for his part said that currently, SAA is promoting contour cultivation, terracing, cover cropping, mulching, and drainage channels through farmer-participatory demonstration plots as effective measures to improve productivity by tackling challenges facing the sector. For instance, by sowing crops in the direction of the contour lines, the crops create a wall that prevents soil and nutrients from flowing down away. On the other hand mulching process will keep soil moist and make the soil more favorable conditions for plant growth, development and efficient crop production.
Cover cropping and mulching are also effective in preventing soil runoff, improving water retention, and increasing organic matter by covering the soil with vegetation and residues. Practical demonstrations of modern technologies are conducted on smallholders’ fields to illustrate the positive impacts of the technology on yields. The demonstrations involve a wide range of farming equipment that can be used for various types of field operations – beyond ploughing and harvesting. The aim is to boost demand for these services and, in turn, make investments in such technologies profitable for service providers.
The Ethiopian Herald December 5/2021
